Art Berke, a lifelong White Sox fan, has worked at the highest levels of the sports industry with Major League Baseball, ABC Television and Sports Illustrated. He grew up in Northwest Indiana, in the shadow of old Comiskey Park, and proudly proclaims 2005 as the best year of his life. Art offers his glass half-full opinions and observations as he lives and dies with the Sox.

Castro Re-signs with Sox, Where Does That Leave Flowers?

The White Sox have re-signed backup catcher Ramon Castro to a one-year, $800,000 contract with a club option for 2011. It now begs the question: What will become of youngster Tyler Flowers in 2010?

It is not totally unexpected that the Sox signed a backup behind A.J Pierzynski, but there have been two main scenarios concerning the Sox backup catching situation. One being that a backup would be signed from outside the organization and Flowers would spend the year honing his skills, especially defensively, at AAA Charlotte. The other thought is that Flowers would be the backup and a part-time DH. Now with Castro on board, how about a third scenario which would find the Sox keeping both Castro and Flowers with the latter getting a lot of time in the DH rotation as well as behind the plate? If that’s an option at all, it’ll be something to keep an eye on during Spring Training.

Regarding Castro, I was told by someone close to Ramon in November that the Sox may not be so interested in having him back. So I was thinking if a backup was signed it might be somebody like Mike Redmond,who has most recently been with the Twins. I’ve always liked Castro since his days with the Mets when he came through with numerous clutch hits. He was rather disappointing with the Sox, aside from catching Mark Buehrle‘s perfecto, but hopefully he can turn things around and do a better job at spotting the durable A.J.

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